In an interesting development, the CIC recently rejected an RTI application concerning information on IPRS’ compliance with the Copyright Act, upholding privacy for private organizations and confidentiality of inquiry reports that have not been tabled in front of the Parliament. SpicyIP intern Kartikeya Srivastava analyses this decision from the lens of underlying public interest in
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Lessons on the RTI Act: Of Missing Records at the DCGI’s Office & Litigation Fatigue at the Delhi High Court
Penning his 6 years long campaign to trace important public documents admittedly lost by the government, Prashant highlights the lack of transparency and shoddy record keeping by CDSCO and shares his exhausting experience with the resultant litigation before the DHC. Prashant Reddy T is an advocate and one of our most prolific bloggers (His posts
... Continue Reading.NCPRI Raises Alarms Regarding Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, Labeling it as ‘Backward Revisions’ to the RTI Act
On August 3, the National Campaign for Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI) brought to the forefront significant apprehensions concerning the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, which has been introduced in the Lok Sabha. The NCPRI underscored that the government has yet to effectively address crucial concerns that were previously highlighted by the organization. Through
... Continue Reading.Indian government denies access to Covid 19 vaccine collaboration agreements
The Indian government has refused to disclose its collaboration agreements and investments made in developing and procuring India’s Covid 19 vaccine – Covaxin, the Indian mRNA and intranasal vaccine candidates. Despite widespread public interest in these arrangements, the government has consistently rejected Right to Information (RTI) applications requesting this information. Prashant Reddy (who needs no
... Continue Reading.“Right to Access a Public Record” vs “Right to not Communicate the Work”: Where is Public Interest?”
We’re pleased to bring you a guest post by Lokesh Vyas, on an RTI matter that brought up some interesting copyright related questions. Lokesh is a graduate from Nirma University and has previously written posts for us here and here. “Right to Access a Public Record” vs “Right to not Communicate the Work”: Where is
... Continue Reading.RTI Act Has Armed Citizens With The Most Potent Tool
At the very inception , I would begin by stating that no nation can call itself truly democratic if they fail to arm their citizens with the most potent tool of “right to information” which has far reaching consequences . Going forward , I would even say that right to information must be accorded the
... Continue Reading.DCGI draws ire of Delhi High Court for violating the RTI Act
The Single Bench of the Delhi High Court headed by Justice Pratibha Singh, in its recent order in Prashant Reddy v DCGI, came down heavily on the drug regulator for egregious violation of the Right to Information Act. The case arose in relation to the report of Dr. T.M. Mohapatra Committee, a committee which was
... Continue Reading.Appeals to Controllers’ Decisions at IPAB – Part II: The Current Practice of Handling Appealed Matters at the Patent Office
This is the second part of a two part post by Amit Tailor that digs into the manner in which patent appeals are managed and handled. The first part looked into a worrying trend regarding representation from the Patent Office in IPAB proceedings. This second part examines an RTI response to look deeper into how
... Continue Reading.Appeals to Controllers’ Decisions at IPAB – Part I: Manner in Which the Appeals are Getting Disposed of at IPAB
We’re excited to bring our readers a two part post by Amit Tailor that digs into the manner in which patent appeals are managed and handled. The first part observes a worrying trend regarding representation from the patent office in IPAB proceedings, while the second part zeroes in on an RTI response to look deeper
... Continue Reading.RTI on Opposition Details Reveals Concerning (and Possibly Wrong?) Numbers
Image from here [This post was co-authored with Praharsh Gour.] Long time readers may remember earlier posts by Prashant (in 2017 and 2012), looking into opposition disposal and pendency rates. In a similar exercise, while trying to collate data on patent oppositions (filing, disposal and pendency rates), we looked through data available in the Annual
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